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බොදු බල සේනා සංවිධානයේ මහ ලේකම් ගලබොඩඅත්තේ ඥාණසාර හිමියන් සිවුරු ගලවා ගාලූ මුවදොර එල්ලා මරාදැමිය යුතු යයි එක්සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී පාලිත තෙවරප්පෙරුම පවසයි.

ඒ මහතා අලූත්ගමදී පල කල අදහස් මෙසේය.

 

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“What was our crime?” - Sri Lankan Muslims Asks

By Dharisha Bastians in Beruwala and Aluthgama

Thousands of displaced people in the riot-rocked towns of Beruwala and Aluthgama are too afraid to go home again – and many of them have no homes to return to. The watcher at the Al Humeisara Central College in China Fort is compulsive about keeping the tall gates padlocked at all times. He ushers authorised vehicles in and hurriedly shuts the gates behind them, casting furtive looks on the road outside.

Inside the closely-guarded gates, schoolroom desks and chairs are stacked in corners. All the signs of mass displacement abound – large water tanks, truckloads of relief items and make-shift first aid centres. Infants and toddlers snooze in the stifling noon day heat on the floors of fly-infested classrooms. Some of them are only a few weeks old.

The children seem to be the only ones removed from the anger and sorrow that is pervasive in the schoolyard. Thrilled to be skipping school and surrounded by dozens of playmates, they put the Al Humeisara swing sets and climbing frames to good use.

It could be Vavuniya or Batticaloa five or six years ago. Except that the camp lies barely 60 kilometres from the capital Colombo and this is not a war zone.

Displaced by deadly riots

But for a thousand people, all of them Muslims from the area, home has been behind the careful watcher’s latchkey ever since deadly sectarian riots on Sunday night.

When the riots in Aluthgama spilled over into adjoining Beruwala on 15 June, Muslim residents in Ambepitiya and the China Fort area fled to the Jamiya Nalimiya University. The next morning, realising that security there was poor, the crowds of people, who had fled the looting and burning of their shops and homes, flooded into the Central College. Three days later, 267 families or 1,016 people are sheltered in the school, many of them either too scared to go home or with no place to call home any longer.

Al Humeisara Principal M.R.M. Rizki told the Daily FT that he had informed the Zonal educational authorities that the school would be shut because over 1,000 people were occupying the premises after the riots.

“We face the usual problems, with water and sanitation,” he told the Daily FT. Mid-year exams scheduled for next week may have to be postponed, Rizki says, since the school is now home to 17 pregnant women and 56 feeding babies, and over 100 children with no place to go.

“Those who can manage have found relatives to move in with. It is those with no options who have gathered here,” the Principal explains.

Since Monday, there have been regular VIP visits to the area. Yesterday, Minister Rishard Bathiudeen visited the Al Humeisara camp, sitting in the school auditorium, opened by President J.R. Jayewardene and listening to the complaints of the displaced.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s helicopter landed at Beruwala at 3:30 p.m. yesterday, for discussions with Buddhist and Muslim religious leaders. The President promised compensation for the destroyed houses and inquiries against the perpetrators of the violence. But the Muslims of Beruwala have heard those promises before.

Not the first time

For the residents of Badalwatte, Ambepitiya, this is not their first brush with displacement. In 1991, communal violence left many of them homeless or impoverished. Gem polisher N.M. Najeem rebuilt his home from scratch with no help or compensation after it was flattened in the 1991 riots. Sixty-five houses were burned in 1991, and nobody got compensation, complains Najeem. Thirteen years later, he is back to square one.

Not far from the school where the tradesman now lives with his wife and son, his shop lies in ruin, parts of its roof torn off, its glass cabinets filled with hundreds of uncut precious stones shattered and looted. “They left the fish tank intact though,” the 67-year-old says with a wry smile.

The despair of the men at Al Humeisara pales in comparison to the anger and indignation of their women. Clutching infants and elderly neighbourly relatives, the women folk congregate inside the school buildings and classrooms, away from the men, fighting to tell their stories.  Outspoken Fathima Fasral, a 26-year-old with two children, says she was only a child herself when her home was razed in 1991. She says her children are now experiencing the same destitution.

“Is this supposed to be our fate for generations? To be rebuilding our homes from scratch every 20 years?” Fasral rages.

Nothing to go back to

As the displacement camp garners attention, Government officials are urging people to return to their homes. On Tuesday, Law and Order Ministry Secretary Maj. Gen Nanda Mallawaarachchi visited the school and appealed to people to vacate the premises.

“The DIG for the area also arrived here and asked the people to move out. But they are afraid to go back. And in some cases their homes are completely destroyed. So there is no point asking them to go back. There is nothing to go back to,” says one official in charge at the shelter, who declined to be named.

When some of them returned to their homes on Monday (16), Fasral said there were people there who told them they were never supposed to return. “They stood there and told us we were to pack up and leave within a day. The Government wants us to leave the school. Are we supposed to sleep on the streets now?” she charged.

“Did we fall from the sky?”

Among the women, resentment is building against the Bodu Bala Sena and ruling politicians. President Mahinda Rajapaksa was often claiming that Sri Lankans were the children of one mother, part of one family of people, scoffs Sarken Sitthi, a woman at the school who said her family lost everything in Sunday’s riots, even her children’s birth certificates.  “They call us ‘thambiyas’ and ‘marakkalayas’. They are telling us this is their country. Are we not Sri Lankans too? Did we fall from the sky?” she storms, her voice raised and arms flailing, making almost political speeches in the schoolroom corridors.  The hardline monks were criticising Muslims for killing animals for food, says Fasral. “But killing people is okay? Destroying homes and livelihoods – that’s not a sin?” she questions.

If one Muslim had committed some crime, Siththi rationalises, the Government should punish that person. “What did we all do? What was our crime?” she cried.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa finished one war, says Siththi. The time has come for him to end the war against Muslims too. “Get rid of the Bodu Bala Sena. Why can’t he do that?” rages Fathima Hasna, fighting her way through the loud mob of women.

Sense of betrayal runs deep

A few kilometres away at the Meera Jummah Mosque in Dharga Town, Aluthgama, we wash our feet at the ablution pools and walk up to the top floor to hear angry women echo the same call.

“If the President could get rid of the Tigers, why is he having so much trouble with the Bodu Bala Sena?” storms Yasmina Farook, a resident of Seenawatte, an area that suffered massive damage in the violence.

The sense of betrayal among the Beruwala and Aluthgama residents also runs deep, as they raise quieter questions about why their Sinhalese neighbours did not do more to save them. The communities in the town have lived side by side peacefully for years, the women explain.

“During the perahera, the Muslim people provide water and drinks. If the tables had been turned, we would have protected them,” says Fathima Safina, whose husband was badly injured in Sunday’s rioting.

Sinhalese shop owners and residents insist that the violent mobs were mostly outsiders. They acknowledge that some villagers were sympathetic to the Bodu Bala Sena cause, but this was a minority.

“There are a few people here who won’t listen to reason. But most people here live peacefully. We need the Muslims as much as they need us. We do business with them daily,” says Premasiri Saputhanthri who runs a small grocery shop in the Ambepitiya village.

But the Muslim villagers say someone had to point out Muslim-owned homes and businesses to the mobs.

Twenty-one-year-old Faizana from Seenawatte, Aluthgama, says the mobs had burnt her house, where she lives with 13 others, and hoisted a Buddhist flag on the property. Hers was the only Muslim house in the entire block, says Faizana. “Someone told them that it was a Muslim home,” she says. About 2,000 people take shelter at this Dharga Town mosque, many of them spending the day with relatives or salvaging their belongings from partially-destroyed homes to sleep there every night.

“There is nothing left,” says Fasmiyah, a resident of Marikkar Road, Adhikarigoda, another Muslim settlement in Dharga Town. “Only ashes.”

Harrowing and sinister stories

The residents of the Seenawatte and Adhikarigoda villages tell harrowing and sinister stories about their flight on Sunday night, from the advancing mobs.

The crowds that laid siege to the settlements wore black helmets and boots, says Fasmiyah. “They broke gates and used them as shields. No harm could come to them. How did they have uniforms if this was not already planned?” she asks.

When the mob headed towards her home that night, 65-year-old A.R.F. Kareemah fled to a paddy field nearby to hide. “It was pitch dark and the leeches bit me all the way up to my knees,” she recounts.

Kareemah sobs out her story, clutching my arm. “I built my house with ‘seettuwas’ after my husband died eight years ago,” she says, explaining a traditional lot draw system of pooling cash. “It was pretty, my house,” Kareemah sobs, “but only I know the hardship behind it.”

All over Ambepitiya and Aluthgama, the vandalism has targeted Muslim businesses and homes. A few Sinhalese-owned shops, including one cushion works business, have been attacked, but most of them have been left unscathed. Many of the displaced in Beruwala and Dharga Town Aluthgama were fairly prosperous Muslim tradespeople only four days ago.

A few metres from Al Humeisara, stray dogs are lapping at several kilos of lard, where a Muslim-owned bakery store’s stocks have been dragged out into the street and set ablaze. The attackers have been careful not to set the entire building on fire because two Sinhalese-owned shops adjoin the bakery store.

Other businesses have been less fortunate, some of them, like Najeem’s gem polishing shop, entirely destroyed. While many houses have been destroyed in the riots, the mob has specifically targeted places of business – garages, garment factories, gem stores and fridge repairs hops, striking at the beating heart of a people who live by trade.

“It is as if we had to be punished for prosperity,” says Yasmina Farook of Aluthgama. The women claim the Bodu Bala Sena and its supporters are filled with frustrated, unemployed people. They do not believe this war against the Muslims has anything to do with race or religion. Sunday night’s rioting had a far more sinister aim – to cripple the Muslim community economically.

“We must pay for their poverty,” Farook says scornfully. “Are they happy now we are destitute?”

Simmering anger

Simmering anger about the violence directed at Muslims for no apparent reason threatens to taint life in the aftermath of the religious unrest that has gripped the region. Relations between the Sinhalese and Muslim communities that must again live side by side, once life returns to normal, could be altered forever, unless steps are taken to resolve the conflicts and rebuild trust between the communities.

“They did this with the Tamils too,” says Sharmila, an elderly resident of the Al Humeinsara camp. “They pushed and pushed them until they retaliated. Then they called them terrorists and that is what they became,” the woman says.

Positions are hardening in Aluthgama too. One displaced woman at the Dharga Town Mosque says all they ever wanted was to live in peace, to work and earn a living. They had never asked for special treatment or a carved-out section of the country. “Now our hearts are filling with hurt,” she says, “how much more are they going to push us?”

Pix by Ishara S. Kodikara (AFP) and Shilpa Samaratunge

Courtesy: FT

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June 21, 2014, 5:13 pm

Dr Dayan Jayatilleka

There are scarier things, worse things, than Black July ’83. Aluthgama signaled the possibility of such things.

The sequence of events, the lethal violence, the horror of Aluthgama were reminiscent of July ’83 —and to go by Tarzie Vittachchi’s Emergency ’58, the anti-Tamil riots of that year. That is the element of dark continuity, which we must never forget in our haste to define the present as the worst of times. But there is also the element of discontinuity which makes Aluthgama potentially far more dangerous.

If we are to fight this phenomenon successfully, it is necessary to correctly identify the beast. So far it has been misidentified as the scarier mask of the ruling clan, the dark avatar of Sinhala Buddhism or the instrument of neoliberal capitalism. It may be all of these or some of these, but these are not the most important or dangerous aspects of its present-day manifestation, the BBS, and the Aluthgama outbreak.

What is most significant about Aluthgama was the speech by the BBS’ Galagodaatte Gnanasara, the main demagogue but not the main strategist of that formation (the latter role is played by the far senior figure of Ven Kirame Wimalajothi). A careful listening tells me that the BBS project aims at nothing less than state power itself. The discourse signals nothing less than the intention to dictate to the state itself and in that sense, to capture the state. The BBS demagogue claims ownership of the state and the right order how it must behave. The claim of ownership is of course, not personal. Nor is it organizational i.e. limited to the BBS. The claim is not that circumscribed. The claim of ownership of the state is made in ethno religious terms, that of Sinhala Buddhism. That however, is a disguise. The real claim is that of a definite social stratum is the legitimate owner of the state and should therefore be able to prescribe the state’s policy and practice. The aim and claim is to direct the state. The stratum on behalf of which the BBS stakes this claim is the Sinhala Buddhist clergy.

This is new. It may be the case that the Rajapaksas (singular or plural) extended patronage to the BBS. It might even be that certain elements of the state apparatuses thought to do with the BBS what Pakistan’s ISI did in the 1990s with and for the Taliban. In some senses we have been here before, and Galagodaatte Gnanasara is the new Elle Gunawansa while Kirama Wimalajothi is the new Madihe Pannaseeha. Whatever the provenance and patronage though, the phenomenon has metastasized.

In Aluthgama we witnessed a dangerous replay of July ‘83 in the sense that there was a situation of dual power. Who controls the situation: the state apparatuses or the Sinhala Buddhist ‘street’? However, the BBS posed a further question in Aluthgama: who controls the state itself and its direction; its actions? The legitimate state authorities or the monks? Even more serious was the contestation of legitimacy itself: who is more legitimate, the elected civilian power or the monkhood?

What the BBS aims to do is to control the State. This is a qualitative escalation from the decades-long role of the hawkish Buddhist clergy of being a lobby, pressure group and spoiler (Sinhala only in ’55-’56, the BC Pact ‘57, the APC proposals and Annexure ’84). Galagodaatte Gnanasara’s speech signals the new objective of laying claim to control of the State and indeed the new self-image of being such a controlling force or a contender for State power (as distinct from electoral office). Gnanasara directly addresses and appeals to the armed forces and police over the heads of the constitutional political power. He warns the political power by reminding it that the armed forces and police are Sinhala.

The strategy is simple: the sociological (ethno-linguistic, ethno-religious) composition of the state apparatus is sought to be used to leverage the state to act not merely in the interests of a leading role for the Sinhala Buddhists, but a more explicit role which ranges from outright domination up to (or down to) exclusive monopoly of power, economic presence and existential space. The BBS discourse is not merely one of Sinhala Buddhist rulership but of a model of society and politics most charitably described as apartheid but more accurately described as enslavement —with its accompaniment, existential dread and terror.

The agency of control of the state—the aspirant directors of the state—are the Buddhist monks, of which the BBS is the vanguard.

The three dead Muslims, killed it would seem by gunshots in a drive-by indicate that a new phenomenon, an armed militia may be in play. This Ku Klux Klan doesn’t even have to wear sheets and hoods! Of course, the BBS project is to transform the armed forces and police themselves into militias of the Sinhala Buddhist monkhood.

Can the project succeed? It is six decades or more since the rot set in; six decades or more in which this has been incubating. The ideology and consciousness showed heightened levels of toxicity with the rhetoric (beamed live on national TV) at the funeral of Rev Soma. The egg is now beginning to hatch and the monster is showing the top of its scaly head. The monster is not simply that of racism, religious chauvinism, neoliberal capitalism, neo-imperialist conspiracy or Rajapaksaism. It is (as I described it a year ago) ethno-religious fascism and its project is the installation of a social and political order that is theocratic fascism. It is the fascist character that makes it lay claim to the state.

This is way beyond a tactic to gain marginal electoral advantage on the part of the Rajapaksas. The derisive references to President Rajapaksa in Galagodaatte Gnansara’s Aluthgama ‘discourse’ were utterly significant. A social shift has taken place in this country and the BBS hopes to translate it into a power shift. Aluthgama was a testing ground. The BBS’ strategy is a coalition of the Three Ms: Monks, Mobs and Military. Plan A would be rule by these three forces, under the dominance of the monks: theocratic fascism. Plan B would be the installation of military rule backed by the Buddhist clergy: a Sinhala Buddhist coup and junta. Plan C may be a Manchurian Candidate scenario: the installation as the country’s leader of a personality who can be counted on to approximate Plan A. The triggering of anti-Muslim but also anti-minority rioting throughout the country, a military ouster of the Northern PC, a replay of the assassination of SWRD Bandaranaike by a monk in 1959, a situation of chaos and anarchy, may all be part of the plan to seize power or install its preferred ruler.

How to beat back the BBS? It is pointless debating the merits of one or another strategy. It is far more realistic to activate or encourage resistance from as many points as possible. The basis can be a clash of interests with the BBS or a clash of values. A purely values-based or ideas-based resistance to the BBS, though necessary and laudable, would be insufficiently broad and deep. An interest-based strategy is far more likely to succeed though it is not necessary that everyone subscribe to such a platform. After Gnanasara’s speech and the violence in Aluthgama, there is a clear conflict of interest between the ruler(s) and the BBS, which presents itself as a contender for the role of who should direct the state and whom the State apparatus should obey. There is always a contradiction between the Boss and whoever wants to be, thinks he is or should be the boss. The Rajapaksas are a status quoist power; the BBS is a radically revisionist force. The former also have a far greater resonance among the populace at large.

Leon Trotsky famously said that in the struggle against fascism he would be willing to unite with the Devil’s grandmother. While all political parties and rulers (most certainly including the Rajapaksas) have contributed directly or indirectly to the problem and are thereby part of it, they are also potentially part of the solution. Having been enablers of the BBS, the Rajapaksas are objectively the most readily available potential counterweight and counterbalance to the BBS and cannot realistically be ignored. However a Realist strategy of counterbalancing by existing power centers is not the only legitimate one. A broad Left front of which the JVP is the leading and main force (while drawing in the FSP, the IUSF et al) is another track of what must surely be a multi-track strategy against fascism.

The officer corps of the Sri Lankan military, the bureaucracy, the judiciary, the corporate sector, the trade unions, the student unions, the professionals, the political parties, the media, the intelligentsia, the international system (including Sri Lanka’s friends) should all be made aware of how destructive the BBS project is to their interestsand should be motivated to oppose and defeat it. The most effective weapons to stop the March of the BBS are an intelligent patriotism, a reasoned appeal to Sinhala interests and a more authentic, generously inclusive and pluralist Buddhism.

http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=105506

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Editorial

These are days of frayed tempers, perceived grievances, real threats and real fears that can cloud and blow away reason.  This is the hour of the rumor-monger.  This is the hour of the extremist.  This is the hour of the passionate, the hour or the irrational.
The word on the street is ‘Aluthgama’.  Indeed it is the word on every street where matters of yesterday, today and tomorrow, matters of the nation and its destiny, matters of unrest and fear and other related matters are discussed.  Aluthgama moved from the Kalutara district to Colombo and Badulla.  ‘This is 83-July all over again,’ some said.  Not true, but we could get there.

There were arguments over who threw the first stone, as though it justified throw-return and more.  After all it is hard to pin it down to first stone cast when there were only a handful of STF men to ‘protect the (BBS) procession’ in Dharga Town.  An STF source said, ‘That’s why the Muslims keep saying that the STF sided with the mob.  We didn’t.  We were acting on our orders which were specific and were about protecting the procession.’  It was not, let us repeat, not a peaceful procession.  There were anti-Muslim slogans, whipping of hysteria, and undisguised inciting of violence against Muslims in a Muslim majority area by people who had petrol cans and carried weapons. Literally minutes after that ‘first stone’ Muslims and Muslim-owned premises were attacked and torched in Adhikarigoda, Aluthgama and the interior of Dharga Town.

Most of all, it is hard to pin it down on first stone when Buddhist monks torched a shopping complex in Aluthgama more than a month ago over an alleged molestation of a Buddhist child by a Muslim, the relative of the shop owner, when in fact CCTV evidence disproved the allegation.Blaming first-stone-thrower is therefore a joke.
If Azath Salley was arrested for ‘hate speech’, why is Rev Galagodaaththe Gnanasaara still free?  Why did the Police not prevent the BBS rally despite many pleas to do so from many quarters (a planned ‘BBS’ rally in Mawanella was after all stopped)?  Why was the STF not ordered to maintain peace but instructed only to ‘protect the procession’?  Why didn’t the police stop armed mobs scurrying around with violent intent (not just in Aluthgama on Sunday but elsewhere too thereafter)?

Most importantly, why did the Inspector General of Police N.K. Ilangakoon state that a Buddhist monk had been assaulted when he had no evidence to support the claim?  The Judicial Medical Officer’s report which would have either proven or refuted the said monk’s claim (as of Friday) has not been issued.  Highly placed sources at the Attorney General’s Office could not confirm that the monk had indeed been assaulted. 
If there was justification of last Sunday’s violence and if justification spurred further violence the blame falls squarely on the IGP for making the following (irresponsible) statement: ‘Three Muslims in a trishaw assaulted the driver and the Buddhist monk. The Buddhist monk was in hospital receiving treatment for two days and then discharged.  He was to be taken to the temple in a procession when the incident occurred.’

The IGP offered speculation as fact. That’s incompetent and irresponsible. Yesterday the Muslim-owned ‘No Limit’ outlet in Panadura was torched.  While it is not clear how it all happened, it is clear that the sequence of events prompt people to connect dots and reach conclusion, wrong though they may be.  Tinkering with the truth and lying outright causes friction, throw out sparks and cause infernos that are hard to put out.
It is wrong to blame it all on one person, but it is equally wrong not to point out those who provided fuel and matchstick, tossed in extra firewood and refused to douse it even though they had all the water necessary to do the job.  We have to take issue with the IGP.  He must resign forthwith.

Last modified on Sunday, 22 June 2014 00:02http://www.nation.lk/edition/latest-top-stories/item/30540-the-igp-must-resign.html

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In an exemplary act of solidarity religious leaders, both Muslim and Buddhist, met at the Muhiyibdeen Jumma Mosque at Yonakpura, Dickwella, recently. Chief Incumbent Priests of eight Buddhist temples in Dickwella led by Dickwella Shasanarakshaka Bala Mandalaya President Ven Godellewela Rathananda Thera spent close to two hours at the Mosque last Monday night. The decision to visit the mosque was made on the instructions of Minister of Youth Affairs and Skills Development Dullas Alahapperuma.

The delegation of monks accompanied by members of Dickwella Pradeshiya Sabha led by Chairman Krishali Muthukumarana, Dickwella Police OIC, Lasantha Dadallage and other Government officials were warmly welcomed by the Moulavi of Muhiyideen Jumma Mosque Mohamed Akbar Mohamed Shamil.
Speaking to The Nation, Dickwella Pradeshiya Sabha led by Chairman Krishali Muthukumarana informed that such acts of solidarity were nothing new to Dickwella. “Due to a conflict that occurred in Dickwella a few years ago, we decided to form a conflict reporting committee,” said Krishali Muthukumarana. Over the years , the Dickwella Conflict Reporting Committee met regularly in order to solidify religious and racial harmony.

“On the instructions of Minister Dullas Alahapperuma, the Committee met again last Monday at an emergency meeting held at the Dickwella Pradeshiya Sabha,” informed Krishali Muthukumarana. Both Muslim and Buddhist religious leaders, Dickwella Police OIC, Lasantha Dadallage, members of Dickwella Pradeshiya Sabha and representatives of Dickwella youth took part in the discussions.

“As a result of these discussions the Moulavi of Muhiyideen Jumma Mosque at Yonakpura, Dickwella,  Mohamed Akbar Mohamed Shamil extended an invitation to Chief Incumbent Priests of eight Buddhist temples in Dickwella to visit the Mosque.”
Dickwella Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman, Krishali Muthukumarana explained that conflicts take place due to lack of understanding. “If a Buddhist bumps into a Buddhist there is no problem. But if a Muslim bumps into a Buddhist, it’s a big issue. Muslims are not familiar with Buddhist culture and Buddhists are not familiar with Muslim culture. This sort of environment is conducive to conflict. At village level cricket there are separate teams for Muslims and Sinhalese. But in Dickwella it’s different. This sort of solidarity has to seep into village level community based activities as well,” reiterated Krishali Muthukumarana.

“The president of the Muhiyibdeen Jumma Mosque, who was abroad at the time of the Aluthgama incident saw this as a great opportunity to further strengthen our religious and racial ties,” said Muhiyibdeen Jumma Mosque, Dayaka Sabha Secretary,  Mohammed Affan. “We welcomed the Nayaka Theras in the traditional Muslim way, with both hands. We don’t have chairs in the mosque. But we brought a few chairs in for the event.”
According to Affan Dickwella’s religious solidarity dates back to 1452, when the daughter of Parakrama Bahu VI, Bisomenike married Yemenite, Ashek Kuthud Muhammad. They were gifted Dickwella, then Digali Gambaraya, Kuwaiti for ‘prosperous earth’, by the King.

“Since then the relatives of princess Bisomenike and those of Ashek have been living in harmony,” said Affan. In 1575, the Mosque built by Ashek was leveled to the ground by the Portugese, explained Affan. “It was the monks of the Galkanda and Digawalukarama Temple who helped the Muslims who still help and work together with us to this day.”
“All these conflicts, including the conflict that took place in Dickwella in 2009, were the result of external influences,” pointed out Affan. “We must work together to reject such influences, leaving no room for rumors. During the discussions that followed the Aluthgama incident we exchanged phone numbers, so the truth to any rumor can be determined right away.”

“When Aluthgama launched harthal, we didn’t. Therefore there was no harthal against the harthal,” said Dickwella Shasanarakshaka Bala Mandalaya President Ven Godellewela Rathananda Thera. “It’s because the situation was remedied before it blew out of proportion.” Godellewela Rathananda Thera explained that the conflict that took place in Dickwella few years ago acted as a precedent.
Moreover, he commended the residents of Muslim Street, in which Budu Raja Maha Vihara is located, for organizing the Dansala that coincided with the temple’s Vesak procession. “Dickwella was spared of a full-fledged conflict due to the unity of the mosques and temples in the area. We are positive that nothing bad will happen in Dickwella as long as this solidarity is maintained.”

http://www.nation.lk/edition/news-features/item/30519-dickwella-religious-representatives-exchange-numbers-no-room-for-external-influences.html

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By  Sandun Jayawardana and Arthur Wamanan Sunday, 22 June 2014